Mr. Speaker, as the member of Parliament for Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke, I welcome the opportunity to demonstrate to Canadians why, aside from all the scandals, they should not be trusting the Prime Minister or his party.
Let me be very clear. I support helping Canadians who are struggling with the unprecedented events of our time, such as the COVID pandemic. The federal government's promised one-time payment for Canadians living with disabilities who are struggling through this pandemic is one such support, even though it is only being delivered now after months of meaningless clichés from the Prime Minister. I do not support a government that uses an extraordinary event like a health pandemic to erode the democratic rights of Canadians.
Unfortunately for Canadians, this abuse of democracy was happening before the pandemic by ignoring the will of Parliament and not bringing forth the necessary regulations to implement Bill C-462, An Act restricting the fees charged by promoters of the disability tax credit. Canadians living with disabilities have been taken advantage of. Rather than receiving their full benefit of this special one-time payment, some Canadians living with disabilities are poised to lose a portion of it. The abuse of middlemen charging fees to access government programs is becoming so rampant under the Liberal government that an RCMP anti-fraud analyst was recently quoted by the CBC, saying that he wonders whether or not the time has come to start “regulating the promotion of access to government services where people are making money off people trying to access these services that are otherwise free to access”.
The same disability tax consultants saw big paydays when the Canada emergency response benefit was introduced. One such tax consultant started offering to apply on behalf of taxpayers for the benefit. He advertised to assist with CERB applications. This is what can be read on his website: “We have no upfront fee, you only pay us once you get your CERB payment. Due to these rough times, Canada Tax Reviews has reduced our fee from 33% to an 8% fee for this program.”
Seven years ago I introduced private member's legislation, Bill C-462, restricting the fees charged by promoters of the disability tax credit. One of the ways to receive this special one-time disability tax benefit just announced was to qualify for this. My intention in bringing that legislation before Parliament was straightforward. I wanted to see increased protection for disabled Canadians from the predatory practices of certain individuals who refer to themselves as tax credit promoters. When I found out that some individuals were being charged 20%, 30% or 40% of the tax credit, I was misled to believe that Liberal members of Parliament agreed that those kinds of charges were unfair. This is especially true when considering the purpose of the disability tax credit is to support Canadians living with serious disabilities.
Parliament voted in this tax credit in recognition of the fact that Canadians with disabilities face extra challenges. As the member of Parliament whose riding includes Garrison Petawawa, the soldiers and veterans in my community are at greater risk for a number of disabilities because of the sacrifices they have made for our country. The tax credit is of special importance to them.
In bringing forward Bill C-462, I also wanted my constituents and all other Canadians to know they could access their local member of Parliament regarding any federal tax credit without being charged a percentage of the tax credit. Seven years ago, my private member's legislation helped disabled Canadians receive unanimous support in that Parliament. Even the current Prime Minister, who at that time was an opposition MP on the WE Charity speaker circuit, voted in support of my legislation. What happened?